Get the most from your TI

    Here's a little tip for everyone out there,


    The virus connects via USB as we all know,


    But...... USB has a flaw.


    Unlike Firewire, USB shares its bandwidth with all the other ports on the same card. (eg. PCI Card)


    For a while when I first got my TI it was great, but when I had a good few parts playing together I was experiencing dropouts, I'm sure everyone has had this issue and its a pain in the arse.


    The thing is that if you have, say, your TI, USB audio interface, Midi keyboard, and any other USB connectable devices hooked up to your computer together, they are all going to be sharing the same amount of bandwidth between them (if of course those ports all lead to the same card).


    Something I did which really helped the performance of my TI, was to buy additional USB2 ports for my PC in the form of a PCI Card, just for my virus. Some might say that's a bit extreme, why should you have to do such a thing in the first place? Unfortunately, its the nature of USB.


    USB devices cant take all the bandwidth for themselves unlike firewire, which is a real shame and hopefully will be sorted out when USB3 is available.


    Anyway, I bought myself a USB2 x 5 and Firewire x 2 port PCI Card, and I can say that I am getting the utmost power from my TI beause it is the only thing I have connected to that card at the moment.


    And for a measly price of about £6 for the extra ports I think that's quite good really. That money could of easily been spent on fags or booze.


    If you have the extra PCI slots to play with that's always a good option to bear in mind if your virus is always kicking up a fuss when you load that 3rd, 4th or even 5th part into your tune.

    Thanks for the tip! i experience a lot of drop outs that doesn't help me being as creative as i had hoped for.



    If this cause less dropouts it is worth the few bucks indeed.

    http://www.myspace.com/monoproductionstm


    DAW: Cubase 5
    OS: Windows 7


    MB: Asus Rampage Extreme
    RAM: 4x 2GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
    CPU: Intel core 2 quad @ 3.0 GHz
    GPU: ATI EAH 4890 1GB
    Sound: t.c. eletronic Konnekt 8
    Monitoring: 2x KRK rp6 g2 + 1x KRK rp10s
    DSP: UAD, t.c. eletronic Powercore 6000 including virus powercore
    USB: Virus Ti Polar
    FW: Korg m3

    Yeah, I have a LOT of USB devices so it was a must for me - I didn't even have enough bandwidth, never mind dropouts.


    Midi keyboards and virus on my PCI-E USB card.


    Mouse / Keyboard / Webcam / Printer / Everything else on my motherboard USB connections.


    USB isn't fit for purpose for an audio interface for many reasons - but these all pretty much go away when you get a dedicated device (apart from lack of DMA, which kinda destroys the taking the load off the CPU argument for using the virus...).

    Zitat von AtonyB

    USB isn't fit for purpose for an audio interface for many reasons - but these all pretty much go away when you get a dedicated device (apart from lack of DMA, which kinda destroys the taking the load off the CPU argument for using the virus...).

    Well, tell this to RME who just released a USB version of the Fireface that has better latency than the Firewire FF400, according to them :)

    I could believe that RME's new interface does have better latency than the FF400, and in reality USB2 technically can transfer at a higher bandwidth than firewire but like i stated earlier, if you have like that new RME interface and even just a virus runnung from the same USB PCI card then the bandwidth will be divided between them.


    If you have a dedicated PCI for a virus and another for a soundcard your laughing!

    Latency is a different kettle of fish to bandwidth and CPU load...


    I don't actually know which of Firewire and USB have inherantly better latency, but i'm sure the quality of drivers have a lot to do with it, too...

    USB no doubt. I bought the FW epansion for my Korg M3 and jeez what a crap add-on that is! just couldn't get rid of the latecy and i am not the only one. The entire karma forum is filled with unsatisfied people.


    USB on the other hand always works perfectly as you can see with the Virus.

    http://www.myspace.com/monoproductionstm


    DAW: Cubase 5
    OS: Windows 7


    MB: Asus Rampage Extreme
    RAM: 4x 2GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
    CPU: Intel core 2 quad @ 3.0 GHz
    GPU: ATI EAH 4890 1GB
    Sound: t.c. eletronic Konnekt 8
    Monitoring: 2x KRK rp6 g2 + 1x KRK rp10s
    DSP: UAD, t.c. eletronic Powercore 6000 including virus powercore
    USB: Virus Ti Polar
    FW: Korg m3

    Zitat von heckmat

    (to Prolodic) : have you ever load the same project ??? and was it different?

    Yeah, i have tried that to see if it made a difference. Before i had my virus, usb 2.0 interface (edirol ua101), wireless network adaptor and usb mouse and keyboard. After i installed the pci usb 2 card i was able to get another couple of parts running which was nice!


    It is definitely worth it

    Zitat von thomas

    I use a dedicated usb pci card for the virus. Would it be harmfull if I add the keyboard, mouse and midi interface? Those don't send high rates of data. Or is it best to use the entire card for virus only?


    I think you should be ok with that man, the keyboard and mouse wont take hardly any bandwidth, and the midi interface wont take a lot either. The main issues would be anything that uses audio or the internet from the same card.

    Hi Guys


    I am having sync issues wih my virus Ti Snow and have been in touch with the support team who were unable to help me out so i tried to live with it but just cant as i am unable to let it pass and feel i am not using it to its full potential.


    i am writing on this forum as i think you guys might be able to help out as the topic is close related.


    I am using a MacBook Pro with the latest version of both Leopard and Logic 8


    I have giving the virus its own usb port as instructed, i do have a hard drive attached to the firewire port, plus a hub with 6 connections. I got a message a while back while upgrading to the latest version of Virus and it basically said i will suffer sync issues and to use a single port (which i had/have). In the info pain of the virus desktop software within logic i sometimes get a message highlighted in red with the message ...sync error need to stop and start... im not sure there exact words as i am not at my music workstation.


    I hope someone can hep me out and guide me through a few steps to fix this issue.


    thanks


    Jason



    Jason,


    Have you tried removing the hub and drive and trying with ONLY the Snow connected? Also - see if it happens with all the USB ports on the laptop. Depending on the model, there can be internal devices shared on the USB port (for example, Bluetooth modules) that could cause interference.


    Additionally, make sure all your settings in Logic mirror the tutorial PDF - one thing we see a lot is people missing to set their Process Buffer Range to Small.


    Matt

    Zitat von Prolodic

    Yeah, i have tried that to see if it made a difference. Before i had my virus, usb 2.0 interface (edirol ua101), wireless network adaptor and usb mouse and keyboard. After i installed the pci usb 2 card i was able to get another couple of parts running which was nice!


    It is definitely worth it



    first thank you for your response


    what kind of Usb Interface did you buy it? can you tell that name?

    Zitat von heckmat

    first thank you for your response


    what kind of Usb Interface did you buy it? can you tell that name?



    Your welcome bud,


    I cant remember the make or model but it was a PCI card with two firewire ports and 5 USB 2.0 ports. Got it for about £6 if i remember correctly! I had quite a few extra pci slots in my PC so I didn't grudge using that card just solely for the TI.


    It did make a difference though, and at least now I know that I'm getting everything my Virus can handle!

    Zitat von PaulLawlerMusic

    I have just been looking at one of these PCI cards for mac http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegro_usb2.html
    It says 40 times faster than standard USB ??? Is this what I need for one of the latest intel G5s ? because I'm having a lot of the same problems as others here.


    This will do the job - USB 2 has nothing to do with it, though (it is USB 2 that is 40x faster than USB 1.1), as the virus cannot make use of USB 2.


    If it does help it will do so by giving the Virus a DEDICATED USB host - ie nothing else connected to it (or at least, very little else, like no webcams or whatever). Note that this is only a solution for those experiencing bandwidth limit problems and nothing else, really (unless there are some really strange chip incompatibilities out there...).


    If you have a USB webcam in as well as the virus, and other stuff also - then this is likely to be the cause of the problem. If you only have a usb mouse and a pen drive or something, then i would check other things first...